I’m sure I am not the only one who has put on a few extra kilograms during the COVID lockdown period. In Brisbane, for a fair while there was no gym (the zoom version was hard to get up for), no tennis or other sport and while you were encouraged to walk, run or cycle there was a fair bit of comfort food that went along with it. With every day being like Groundhog Day, for some (like myself) beer o clock was every day as well.
Despite the gym starting up again and doing 4 sessions per week plus a game of tennis, those ‘Kovid Kilo’s’ just will not go away! My best intentions often come unstuck on the weekend with 1 or 6 beers and the obligatory packet of Doritos. And so, the week-to-week Yo-yo continues.
Whilst I live a fairly active lifestyle and eat reasonably well, a full body scan quickly dispels any myths and shows all the different levels of unhealthiness that I have, including my bio age (which is not too bad but a couple of years more than it should be).
Time to do something about it….time to challenge myself!
There are other benefits in going to the gym and in fact my lower back pain disappeared once I was able to strengthen it again. But to get the full benefits I think you need to go all in. With a 45-day challenge beckoning and all the support I could hope for, it’s time to give it a crack!
So, in the lead-in to summer, finishing early December this challenge involves full calorie control, quality food, no alcohol and no unhealthy snacks for about 6 weeks. And just for something different I am going full vegetarian for at least the first week.
There are so many distractions that are coming my way – Hallowe’en (for the first time in a long time on a Saturday night), The Melbourne Cup, 3 x State of Origin games, the Bledisloe Cup, the first of the Christmas parties starting to happen, work functions and of course, every Friday and Saturday night! At least the footy finals are over and there are very few work trips on the horizon.
There’s also temptation everywhere, Tony’s bakery (the best bread), a quick drive-through at Maccas for a Saturday lunch, Pizza Friday! Willpower is required here so I want to see if I have what it takes.
I have had lots of support already so I am trying to tell as many people about it as possible. The normal reaction is ‘why are you doing that’, quickly followed by ‘I should do that as well’.
Clearly if you want to be the best version of yourself means more than 45 days and then letting yourself go. Its long enough to get into good habits and get out of some of the bad ones, so it hopefully it works that way for me.
This one is a bit of a self-indulgent blog, but I figured if I get the word out in the public realm there would be nowhere to hide.
There are many people around the country and globally who will still be in partial or full lockdown into 2021! But it won’t last forever, and soon hopefully everyone can get back to getting out there and doing what they love.
In the meantime it’s time for me to get that bikini body ready for summer!
